Jeff Poor

Last week, Washington, D.C.-based media website FishbowlDC revealed the troubled past of embattled Politico reporter Joe Williams, including the fact that he pleaded guilty to assaulting his ex-wife. That came in the wake of comments he made that painted presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney as a racist, and a tweet in which he wrote that the “overlay of blatant racism” is “the secret sauce in the Politico shitburger.”

Those comments led to his suspension, but they also brought new attention to him and his personal life, which he told “Reliable Sources” host Howard Kurtz on Sunday was unfair.

“I think my personal life was brought into the situation unfairly,” Williams told the CNN host. “I think it was much analogous to Anderson Cooper talking about how his sexuality had become an issue and wanted to dispel that. That really doesn’t have all that much to do with what he is reporting and how he does his job.” (RELATED: TheDC’s coverage of Williamsgate)

“I don’t think what I have to do, what my personal life involves has anything to do with how I do my job. It has everything to do with how I protect my children. How I protect my — other people involved in the situation. That, I believe, crossed the line.”

Williams did, however, stick to his line from recent days, saying conservative media outlets are to blame for his situation.

“They are, fairly or unfairly,” Williams continued. “I think the difference here is that the media on the right that decided that this was an issue decided and did so without context, again, without giving an opportunity for a fair response, and without examining the entire context.”